Prime Minister Mark Carney named former cabinet minister Jonathan Wilkinson on Thursday as the next ambassador to the European Union. Wilkinson confirmed the news in a post to X after sources close to Wilkinson confirmed the new role to CTV News. The appointment has been speculated upon since as early as last September. In a letter posted online, Wilkinson said...
Canada has been selected to host a multinational bank to provide "long-term, low-cost financing" for defence projects by NATO members and allies, the federal government said Wednesday. The Globe and Mail newspaper first reported the decision following the end of multinational negotiations earlier Wednesday that were hosted in Montreal. A news release issued late Wednesday says the defence bank will...
The price of Brent crude oil briefly surged past $126 US a barrel early Thursday as stalled U.S.-Iran talks raised doubts over the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and a permanent end to the Iran war. Brent crude to be delivered in June jumped 3.3 per cent to $121.90 after briefly soaring past $126 per barrel, the highest since...
Conservative MP Jamil Jivani was back in Washington on Wednesday with a handful of Tory colleagues for a meeting with Canadian business interests and United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. Canadian Ambassador Mark Wiseman was also in attendance. The event was hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Canada and happened as Greer has been claiming that Canada has...
Finance Department says Financial Crimes Agency would be distinct from RCMP. The Liberal government is looking to set up a new federal law enforcement agency dedicated to financial crimes, a dramatic undertaking to shake up how money laundering and fraud are investigated in Canada. "Canada has just, what feels like all of a sudden, established a new federal police agency,"...
The deadline for the joint review of the U.S.-Canada-Mexico Agreement looms as the war of words between Canada and U.S. officials intensifies. There appears much work to be done before the trilateral talks begin. Notably, the U.S. and Mexico have set a date to discuss their respective positions on the trade pact, while a Canada-U.S. one remains absent from the...
71% of Albertans don't want to leave Canada. 17% do. Who can influence the other 12% and what will matter to them? 120 years ago Alberta became a Canadian province. This year, residents may or may not have a vote on whether they want to remain. The proposed questions of the Smith government aren’t directly on this question - they...
As a royal, Charles’s history has been marked by promise unfulfilled and unending frustration. It’s been a life in an antechamber beset by controversy and scandal surrounding him or his wider family, all as he waited forever for the Crown – only to be greeted by cancer, for which he is still being treated, upon attaining it. It’s like Charles...
Nate Erskine-Smith is a politician in a pickle of his own making. Once again, he pines to be premier. Now, he has a four-step plan to get there.
The success rate for basic training in the Canadian military has dropped to 77 per cent over the past fiscal year as the Canadian Armed Forces grapple with the impact of recruiting changes designed to boost enrolment, according to a leaked internal report. That compares with a historical average of 85 per cent, according to an internal January, 2026, report...
71% of Albertans don't want to leave Canada. 17% do. Who can influence the other 12% and what will matter to them? 120 years ago Alberta became a Canadian province. This year, residents may or may not have a vote on whether they want to remain. The proposed questions of the Smith government aren’t directly on this question - they...
Canada is at a crossroads. In the coming days and weeks, the federal government will decide whether the country compromises its climate commitments or embraces a more sustainable path towards a greener future.
Its natural gas reserves have the potential to enrich its people and power the world. Let’s get some shovels in the ground
The PM's economic transformation agenda needs to deliver some visible and impactful results in the next 12 to 18 months, or another line of vulnerability will open up. One year in as prime minister, and Mark Carney is arguably at the top of his political game. He just secured a majority government through some byelection wins and five floor crossings...
The real battle is inside the UCP. Alberta’s separatist drive isn’t really a fight for the future of Canada. It’s a battle for the United Conservative Party. The latest polling from Janet Brown, commissioned by the CBC, shows separatist support is stuck at 27 per cent, while 67 per cent will vote against leaving Canada.
It is a time-honoured parliamentary tradition for finance ministers to congratulate themselves on making more progress than can possibly be justified by the facts. François-Philippe Champagne was no exception, as he presented his government’s spring fiscal update in the House of Commons on Tuesday. He said his government is spending less, so that it can invest more, and added that...
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne tabled the Spring Economic Update (SEU) in Parliament on April 28, 2026 – six months after the fall budget and on the one-year anniversary of the federal election; a symmetry between the political and financial cycles that underscored Prime Minister Mark Carney’s economic credentials.
Though loquacious by nature, the finance minister wasted relatively little time Tuesday getting to the relatively good news. "Mr. Speaker, [these] are serious times and Canadians expect us to be good stewards of our economy and manage our public finances with thoughtful fiscal discipline," François-Philippe Champagne told the House of Commons as he presented the federal government's first spring economic...
If you have been wondering what meaning to attach to that irritating phrase the Carney Liberals use to describe themselves, “Canada’s New Government” – which was irritating enough when it was first employed, under Stephen Harper, when it was actually a new government – wonder no longer. As this Spring Economic Update makes abundantly clear, it means nothing whatever. Or...
“Let me make it real for you.” In that one short, sharp sentence, Finance Minister François Philippe Champagne acknowledged the political juggling act that Mark Carney’s government is trying to pull off as it embarks on its second year of power.
Nothing is likely to shore up Conservative esprit de corps like the sight of Patty Hajdu rising in the House of Commons and accusing the Official Opposition of being “against Canada.”
Congratulations, Canada! On Monday, our nation joined an exclusive club: countries with sovereign wealth funds. Norway, Kuwait and other resource-rich nations have long tapped royalties and budget surpluses to fund investment vehicles: in this era of geopolitical uncertainty and an erratic neighbour, Prime Minister Mark Carney thinks it’s time Canada does the same.
The thing about the new Canadian “sovereign wealth fund” (SWF) announced on Monday by Prime Minister Mark Carney is that, judging by what we know so far, it’ll be pretty much the opposite of what he’s comparing it to. The prime minister cited Norway as a leading example of a country with a successful SWF — and so it is...
For all the talk that Prime Minister Mark Carney is a small-c conservative his announcement that Canada will create a sovereign wealth fund was a confirmation of his capital-L Liberal predilections. The form of the fund might be a little surprising, given that the sovereign wealth funds of resource-rich nations are usually seeded with windfall earnings socked away for the...
My March podcast interview with Pierre Poilievre drew a lot of attention, but one of the sharpest responses came from Max Fawcett, an award-winning Calgary journalist who’s been sharply critical of the notion that the West’s resource sector is singled out for mistreatment. Max just flat cancelled his subscription to this newsletter, and tore a strip off me on Bluesky...
Asked about how he went bankrupt, one of the characters in Ernest Hemingway’s novel The Sun Also Rises replies, “gradually, then suddenly.” That’s what’s in store for Canada’s supply management system, an outdated, regressive policy from the 1970s that protects the dairy and poultry sectors by artificially raising consumer prices and drastically restricting imports. It will disappear, gradually then suddenly...
Sovereign wealth funds are typically established by countries to manage their surplus wealth. Canada has just established the Canada Strong Fund — this country’s first national sovereign wealth fund — despite being deeply in the red. In short, there is no surplus wealth to manage.
No Canadian prime minister has ever faced a more difficult relationship with an American president than Prime Minister Mark Carney does with Donald Trump.
Like others, my immediate thoughts upon watching Prime Minister Mark Carney’s “Forward Guidance” video was a comparison to former United States president Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “fireside chats” during the 1930s and ’40s. FDR used these chats for several purposes but, like Carney, most importantly they were a way of communicating directly with voters without the filters of media. FDR’s chats...
It’s nice that U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen got a few cheers in Canada for taking U.S. officials to task for their insults. But it’s the injury that is the real problem. Ms. Shaheen snapped back at U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who had recently said his Canadian counterparts “suck” and complained during a Senate subcommittee hearing last week that liquor...
You wouldn’t know it, from their usual delusional bluster, but Donald Trump’s team is starting to panic. And perhaps they should. The president’s popularity is plummeting. One clear reason: the economic revolution he promised has turned into a catastrophe.
While the federal Liberals smugly refer to themselves as Canada’s natural governing party, the historical record suggests that may be true, despite the danger it poses to democracy.
Let me be clear: on the underlying question, Doug Ford was right.
If U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration hoped to strengthen Canada’s hand in trade talks, it could hardly have done a better job. This week, the U.S. deputy trade representative Rick Switzer told the Council of Foreign Relations that Prime Minister Mark Carney is guilty of “political malpractice” for pitting himself politically against the president, that he’s driven by his “ego,”...
With Liberal MPs holding a majority of seats in the House of Commons, government House leader Steven MacKinnon moved a motion on Thursday that would see that majority reflected in the allotment of seats on House committees. This would be an entirely remarkable development — the sort of procedural housekeeping that occurs at the start of each Parliament — except...
In the classic Canadian tradition of diffusing the pain by enlarging the official target field, Prime Minister Mark Carney this week unveiled a 24-member Advisory Committee on Canada-US Economic Relations to buttress his negotiating team heading into the looming CUSMA review with the United States and Mexico. The committee is composed of some pan-partisan political figures, from former federal Tory...
Was John Turner right? Is Donald Trump’s weaponization of Canada’s dependence on trade with the United States vindication of the Liberal leader’s dire prophecies during the 1988 election campaign? Is this the bitter fruit of the Mulroney government’s decision, all those years ago, to sign a free-trade agreement with the United States?
Hanwha’s submarine bid has within a few short months become a potential lifeline for Canada’s auto industry. The South Korean corporation is partnering with the Auto Parts Manufacturers Association (APMA) to build military armoured vehicles in Canada. It’s a strategy that could help it win a lucrative contract and keep the tariff-hit auto sector from sinking further. The vehicles would...
Canada has been selected as the host nation of a new multinational defence bank as negotiations among the founding countries ended in Montreal on Wednesday, according to two sources. The decision was made after the final of three rounds of negotiations hosted by Canada and involving the 19 founding countries of the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank.
Eliot Pence of Dominion Dynamics is using venture capital to build military equipment he hopes the government will one day buy. When Eliot Pence needed a name for the high-tech drone factory he has established in an Ottawa industrial park, he turned to what some might consider an unlikely inspiration: the swashbuckling coureur des bois of Canada’s past.
The federal Liberal government is looking at selling Canadian airports off to private owners saying it wants to streamline operations and passenger services, attract more business investment to Canada, and even direct possible proceeds into a national sovereign wealth fund. The morning after the spring economic update hinted at the government’s plans, Transport Minister Steven Mac
TORONTO -- Police presence in Toronto during the World Cup may be "stronger than we've ever seen at any event," the force said Wednesday as the federal government announced up to $145 million for security over the upcoming soccer tournament.
OTTAWA -- Conservative MPs are calling out the government of Prime Minister Mark Carney after its representatives failed to follow allies in proactively challenging Iran's nomination to two United Nations bodies -- including one tasked with reviewing a landmark treaty on nuclear weapons.
TORONTO -- The federal government's plan to spend billions of dollars to increase the number of skilled trades workers is being welcomed by labour groups who say it will help bridge gaps in the system.
OTTAWA -- Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand says it's her "understanding" that Iranian soccer officials saw their permission to enter Canada revoked ahead of the FIFA Congress in Vancouver.
MP Kelly DeRidder described details of a phone call she received from Liberals in social post. An Ontario Conservative MP says she will not be crossing the floor anytime soon, despite an attempt from the Liberal Party to poach her. Kitchener Centre MP Kelly DeRidder says she got a phone call from the Liberal Party, trying to convince her that...
The federal government still has not announced its clean electricity strategy, despite Prime Minister Mark Carney saying it would land weeks ago. At a news conference in Halifax on March 26, Carney told reporters the government would be releasing "next week" a strategy to expa
Canada’s aerospace industry could be in for windfall with news that NATO has selected a new fleet of airborne warning planes based on Canadian aircraft outfitted with Swedish technology. The French defence publication La Lettre and the German press agency DPA are reporting NATO’s Support and Procurement Agency selected Sweden’s Saab and Canada’s Bombardier to replace the alliance’s current fleet...
The Conservatives say the Liberals wasted no time shutting down public debate at two House of Commons committees after securing their majority this week. On Tuesday, the health and ethics committees welcomed new Liberal MPs, giving the government a majority of members. Minutes into both meetings, the Liberal members used their majorities to send the debates into closed-door sessions.
The latest Liaison Strategies survey for Ontario shows the PCs trailing the Liberals by 2 points. It is the first time the PCs have trailed since Liaison began its monthly tracking series of Ontario. The PCs led by Doug Ford would garner 36% of the decided and leaning vote compared to the Ontario Liberals at 38%. The Ontario NDP sits...
Government building budget on 'conservative' estimates, even as global currents force prices up. Global energy markets continue to reel from the ongoing disruption in the Strait of Hormuz. The price of oil is sitting around $100 US a barrel, but Tuesday's spring economic update used much lower prices to build the budget. For this year, the economic update assumes the...
King Charles delivered a historic address to the U.S. Congress Tuesday that was replete with calls for better relations between Britain and the States but also some subtle jabs at his host, President Donald Trump. Charles used that grand Washington stage to gently correct the record on NATO's past support for the U.S., stand up for the Royal Navy after...
With Mexico and the United States planning to convene for formal bilateral talks for the review of the North American trade pact, Conservative MPs are questioning Canada’s “go slow” strategy, but analysts say waiting out the U.S. is the best path forward.
King Charles’ 24-hour trip to Ottawa last May cost Canadian taxpayers at least $2.6 million. According to data obtained by CTVNews.ca, costs for the overnight trip included almost $870,000 for a ceremonial air force flyover, nearly $860,000 in police expenses and close to $370,000 for air and ground transportation. Charles visited Ottawa with Queen Camilla on May 26 and 27...
Under pressure to increase economic benefits to Canadians, South Korea’s Hanwha is committing to manufacturing armoured battle vehicles in Canada if it’s awarded the lucrative contract to build the Royal Canadian Navy’s next fleet of submarines. CTV News has learned that Hanwha has signed a partnership agreement with members of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association (APMA) build its K9 vehicles...
The Progressive Conservative government in Newfoundland and Labrador is set to table their spending plan for the indebted province's year ahead. Finance Minister Craig Pardy's budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year is expected to come with a deficit, though he hasn't given many hints on what the shortfall may be. He has, however, said that he expected the fiscal year...
Canadians are tiring of Donald Trump’s favourite word, “tariffs,” but they may need to brace for even more of them. Last month, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) launched investigations into 60 economies, including Canada, under Section 301(b) of the Trade Act of 1974 to determine whether they have failed to impose and enforce a ban on imports produced with...
The federal government is allocating up to $145 million for security during the upcoming World Cup. Canada is co-hosting with the United States and Mexico, with thirteen matches scheduled to take place in Toronto and Vancouver this June and July. The government said in a new release the funding is in response to "specific operational needs identified by the host...
OTTAWA -- A new government office tasked with purchasing the most expensive equipment for the military is about to be upgraded to give it new independence and oversight, according to the Liberal government's spring economic update.
The federal Liberals say they're getting a windfall from better-than-expected fiscal revenues and are largely putting that money back into circulation to support households and build up the economy. But Ottawa's spring economic update also sees some darker clouds on the horizon as uncertainty over the Iran war and U.S. tariffs threatens growth in the years ahead. Finance Minister Francois-Philippe...
The Liberal government released a spring economic update Tuesday closely focused on boosting investment and job training. While the document contains measures that likely would face pushback from the opposition, the Liberals — thanks to their new parliamentary majority — won't have to worry about securing opposition votes to pass it. The thin document served mostly to provide a mid-year...
In its first-ever spring economic update, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s newly minted majority government is promising to spend billions on a strategy to train more skilled workers to help deliver on its plans to build big. The revised fiscal outlook also shows that while the federal deficit is $11. 4 billion lower in the current fiscal year than what was...
OTTAWA -- The federal government plans to ban cryptocurrency ATMs as part of a suite of measures in its spring economic statement targeting financial crimes.
Projections put deficit $11.5B lower than November budget. Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne's spring economic update finds the Liberal government sitting in a better-than-expected position — driven by a resilient economy and surging oil prices — which it's using to justify billions in new spending to train up tens of thousands of skilled workers and set up a sovereign wealth fund...
OTTAWA -- The federal government is promising $4.3 billion for First Nations education, Inuit food security and Indigenous child welfare in its spring economic update.
OTTAWA -- The federal government's spring economic update today formalizes a pivot in climate policy that was first made in last year's energy agreement with Alberta.
OTTAWA -- Here's a brief look at some of the key numbers in the Liberal government's 2026 spring economic update:
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Lyndon B. Johnson knew the legislation he was about to sign was momentous, one that took courage for certain members of Congress to pass since the vote could cost them their seats.
Black members of Congress are bracing for a crippling shakeup of their ranks after a Supreme Court ruling gutted a key section of the Voting Rights Act that had protected minority communities in political redistricting and helped boost their representation.
NEW YORK (AP) -- King Charles III and Queen Camilla began their trip to New York City on Wednesday with a visit to the National 9/11 Memorial, where they honored victims of the 2001 attacks and spoke with relatives of those who died.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court on Wednesday mulled the Trump administration's push to end legal protections for migrants fleeing war and natural disaster, in one in a series of immigration cases the justices are considering against the backdrop of the president's far-reaching crackdown.
The price of Brent crude oil briefly surged past $126 US a barrel early Thursday as stalled U.S.-Iran talks raised doubts over the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and a permanent end to the Iran war. Brent crude to be delivered in June jumped 3.3 per cent to $121.90 after briefly soaring past $126 per barrel, the highest since...
The United Arab Emirates said Tuesday it will leave OPEC effective May 1, stripping the oil cartel of one of its largest producers and further weakening its leverage over global oil supplies and prices. The UAE's decision had been rumored as a possibility for some time, as it pushed back in recent years against OPEC production quotas it felt had...
President Donald Trump and top officials were rushed to safety after shots were fired near stairs leading down to the main ballroom.
Ottawa has announced an increase in the number of direct flights permitted to bring passengers and cargo to and from China. Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon says there will be "an incremental increase" in flights between the countries in response to Prime Minister Mark Carney's outreach visit to Beijing in January. Canadian and Chinese airlines will be allowed to boost the...
The strait will not be fully reopened “until America allows full freedom of navigation for vessels traveling from Iran,” Iranian military officials indicated. Iranian military officials said Saturday that conditions in the Strait of Hormuz have reverted to "strict control," citing the continued U.S. blockade of its ports, just one day after declaring the waterway “completely open.”
The first year of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s leadership has had a transformational impact on both Canada’s foreign policy and its standing in the world. The shift has been especially evident in the Indo-Pacific, where Ottawa is more active, more strategic, and more ambitious than it has ever been.
Canada’s long-standing openness helped build one of the world’s most respected immigration systems. However, the intellectual establishment’s push for ever-expanding “inclusivity” has driven that openness beyond what many Canadians consider reasonable.
A comparison of two separate surveys conducted during the 2021 and 2025 election years shows a misalignment between the positions of election candidates and those of their constituents on the division of powers in Canada. While the views of candidates and voters were relatively close on this issue in 2021, the gap widened in 2025. The percentage of voters who...
A collection of SubStack publishing within Canadian public affairs.
Earlier this month, the federal government quietly released its annual inventory of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, now with data up to 2024. The news was not good. Carbon pollution reduction effectively stalled in 2024 (down a measly 0.3 per cent from the previous year and down only 10 per cent from 2005). Canada, simply put, is not on the trajectory...
I nearly drove off the road when I heard Pope Leo’s powerful message on the radio this week.
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s office wants to bust up a monopoly. I think I’m the target. Let me explain. The Privy Council Office (PCO), home of the prime minister and cabinet, has been flooded with complaints about its failures to comply with the Access to Information Act.
On this special edition, Nick Taylor-Vaisey and Mickey Djuric speak with Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne ahead of the release of his Spring Economic Update. They press him on how the government plans to attract investment in a time of global uncertainty, and find out how it is balancing fiscal prudence with mounting economic pressures. And finally, the most contentious question...
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government has delivered its spring economic update amidst an unpredictable global backdrop. It included a better-than-expected deficit figure and billions of dollars for skilled trades workers, as well as a sovereign wealth fund. Senior business correspondent Peter Armstrong breaks down what the document tells us about Canada’s finances and the Liberal government’s priorities.
The Liberals’ spring economic update lays out $54-billion in new spending over six years, including $6-billion towards boosting employment in the trades and more money for sports. The update also shows an estimated deficit of $66.9-billion for the 2025-26 fiscal year, an $11.5-billion improvement over what the government had projected in the Nov. 4 budget.
Amid much fanfare the government announced last week that it has established a new advisory council on trade with emphasis on the challenging situation with the United States. Looks impressive with some big names and a non partisan flavour. But do these work or are they just a gimmick? Former Harper cabinet minister James Moore and former Trudeau PMO adviser...
